The security aspect in question. The magistrates responsible for judicial information on the security of the Promenade des Anglais on the evening of the attack of July 14, 2016 have extended their qualifications to counts of homicide and involuntary injuries, the prosecutor of Nice.
“In addition to endangering the lives of others, three qualifications are now added: involuntary homicide, involuntary injuries with incapacity of more than three months and involuntary injuries with incapacity of less than three months,” said Damien Martinelli, public prosecutor. , confirming information from France Info radio.
Several requests for acts rejected
This extension of the investigation’s qualifications follows a request for acts and reclassification made by Me Virginie Le Roy, lawyer for the victims’ association Promenade des Anges. In July, the public prosecutor of Nice, at the time Mr. Xavier Bonhomme, asked the investigating magistrates to approve the requests of the civil parties.
The three investigating magistrates granted three requests for acts: the hearing of a prefecture official involved in meetings for the organization of the festive event on the Promenade, the submission of the report submitted to the Inspectorate General of the National Police (IGPN) by the Departmental Directorate of Public Security and the research and submission of a report analyzing the terrorist risks which would have been ordered by the city of Nice before the attack.
Several other requests for documents were rejected, which Me Le Roy intends to appeal. “This concerns in particular the police handrails, the only ones able to show what was the police system actually put in place that evening, who was where, with what vehicle and with what weaponry”, indicated to the AFP the lawyer.
A second part on the “Prom’ Party” organized on the evening of the attack
This extension of qualifications in no way prejudges future indictments and a fortiori the holding of a trial in the security aspect of the Nice attack, during which Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a thirty-year-old Tunisian living in Nice, had rushed in the crowd gathered by the sea for the national holiday. The perpetrator was shot dead by the police. The trial on the attack itself, which allowed the perpetrator’s accomplices to be judged, ended in December with sentences of two to 18 years’ imprisonment, against eight people.
This second file concerns the security put in place jointly by the municipal and prefectural authorities for the “Prom’ Party” organized on the evening of the attack. Four people are placed under assisted witness status: Christian Estrosi, mayor of Nice, at the time 1st deputy in charge of security, Philippe Pradal, Horizons deputy, mayor of Nice in 2016, Adolphe Colrat, prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes in 2016 , today president of the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management, and his chief of staff at the time, François-Xavier Lauch, now prefect of Hérault.
“The City of Nice has taken note of the order of the investigating judge, who dismissed 80 of the 83 investigative acts requested by the Promenade des Anges association,” the City’s lawyers told AFP. , Me Archibald Celeyron and Julie Fabreguettes. “The City will continue to cooperate fully in the investigations as it has done for seven years, with equanimity,” they specified, maintaining that “the framework of the investigations remains unchanged.”